Rapture
The Rapture was a historical event in the Left Behind books when all believers were taken into Heaven, where they would receive a glorified body. The teaching comes from 1st Thessalonians 4:16-17: :For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. While in the story the adults that were true believers along with children that have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior were taken in the Rapture, there were also newborn babies as well as unborn children that were taken in addition to other children who were too young to fully accept accountability for their actions. Following the Rapture, there many speculations about what had taken place. Some among unbelievers thought it was aliens with advanced transporting technology to take those who offered least resistance away with them. Nicolae Carpathia postulated that it had something to do with the presence of nuclear missiles and other unexplained natural phenomena working together to cause the disappearances to happen. Enigma Babylon One World Faith spiritual leader Peter Mathews believed that it was God removing "the chaff" from "the wheat", allowing only those who were considered good in His eyes to remain. However, to those who knew the truth, who thought they were Christians but found themselves to be hypocrites when they were left behind, the Rapture became a startling revelation and the start of a mighty work of salvation formed in the nucleus of a small group called the Tribulation Force. Timing Of The Rapture There is a difference of opinion even among those who believe in the Rapture about the actual timing of when it takes place. These views include: * Pre-Tribulation, that it can happen at any time prior to the Tribulation. This is commonly supported by Scripture that says no one knows the day or hour of the Lord's coming. * Mid-Tribulation, that it will happen at the midpoint the Tribulation. This is commonly supported by 1st Corinthians 15:51-52, which states that this will happen at "the last trumpet", which some Bible students interpret as being the seventh Trumpet Judgment. It is also supported to some degree by 2nd Thessalonians 2:1-4, stating that the day of His gathering of the saints will not come unless there's a "falling away", and that the "man of sin", the "son of perdition" (two terms used for the Antichrist) has been revealed. * Pre-Wrath, that it will happen somewhere during the last 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation, prior to the Bowl Judgments, which are spoken of as being the completion of God's wrath. * Post-Tribulation, that it will happen at the end of the Tribulation. This is commonly supported by Matthew 24:29-31. * Pan-Tribulation, that it can occur at any point during the Tribulation. This is usually supported by those who are completely unsure about the timing and simply put it in God's hands, that it will all "pan out" in the end. The authors of the Left Behind books support the pre-Tribulation view of the Rapture, and thus the story series follows this view. Category:Events